The phrase "a very early step" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe an initial phase or action in a process or sequence of events.
Example: "In the development of the project, conducting market research is a very early step that sets the foundation for future decisions."
Alternatives: "a preliminary step" or "an initial step".
Fukumoto T, Kema IP, Levin M. Serotonin signaling is a very early step in patterning of the left-right axis in chick and frog embryos.
Levin M, Thorlin T, Robinson KR, Nogi T, Mercola M. Asymmetries in H+/K+-ATPase and cell membrane potentials comprise a very early step in left-right patterning.
While architects' renderings have been done, the congregation has not yet approved the expansion, which would be a very early step in the overall process.
To be sure, it's a very early step in what will be a long regulatory process, the first of three phases in just the "pre-licensing" review.
President Obama called the Taliban's announcement "an important first step toward reconciliation," but cautioned that it was only "a very early step".
Voting to proceed would have been only a very early step along the way, but evidence that drilling and prospecting would have brought roads and temporary settlements to some of the UK's loveliest countryside left many aghast.
Already at this very early step animal data need to be integrated with patients' data to generate strong candidates.
In the very early step of our research study, in hormone-dependent MCF-7 breast cancer cell line, we compared the performance of several DAX-1 antibodies.
UVR8 and COP1 interact directly and rapidly in the nucleus in planta after UV-B exposure [ 26], and this very early step in UV-B signaling is proposed to initiate UV-B acclimation [ 14].
As point out above, it might well be that these Ψ 's are formed at very early step of the tRNA maturation (possibly during transcription) by the non RNA guide Cbf5p/Nop10P/Gar1 complex.
Our results indicated that Rxo1 appeared to function in the very early step of the interaction between rice and Xoc, and could specifically activate large numbers of genes involved in signaling pathways leading to HR and some basal defensive pathways such as SA and ET pathways.
